Flaming Simon

(and scroll to the bottom for our new installation, ExploDrums)

Remember the electronic game "Simon" from the late 70's? It was a round electronic unit with four colored wedges that lit up and beeped to indicate a pattern. The object was to follow the pattern of the colors and beeps. Each time you successfully completed a pattern, its length was extended by one.

Flaming Simon is a fire-driven version of the electronic game "Simon". In Flaming Simon, a player stands in the center of a 6' x 6' square of pipes, surrounded by four flame effects cannons (one on each corner), four corresponding video game style buttons and a start button.

When the player hits the start button, the game begins with a blast from one of the flame cannons. The player mimics this by pressing the correct button, triggering another blast. The next pattern repeats the first blast and adds another. The player respond by repeating the two-blast pattern. Each time the player successfully repeats the series of blasts, the pattern length increases by one new blast. If a pattern length of 20 is reached, the game is completed and the player is rewarded by a sequenced flame show.

Video

Current version of Flaming Simon
Leon, Mexico, August, 2007

Original version of Flaming Simon
Brooklyn, NY, 2001

Interested in having Flaming Simon at your event?Here are some helpful technical and safety details:

Technical Details and Requirements

Flaming Simon must be run outdoors. It has a 6' x 6' footprint and a height of 6'. Flames are emitted vertically and can reach heights of 30'. It must have unobstructed overhead clearance for at least 45 vertical feet and should be at least 15' away from any other permanent or flammable structures. Flaming Simon must be run at night, or at least dusk, in order for flames to be visible.

Flaming Simon consumes about 50 pounds of propane per hour. There are no special electrical needs - only one standard electrical outlet or extension cord at the piece. The piece can be set up in a few hours.

Rates for the piece depend on location (whether shipping, airfare and accomodations are necessary) and how many nights and hours per night the piece will run. Rates are quoted upon request.

We provide necessary crew to run the piece, including MC and safety personnel. The venue should provide any additional security they feel is necessary. We may also ask the venue to provide a water tub to hold propane tanks, two CO2 fire extinguishers and two 5 gallon buckets.

Health and Safety

Fire is inherently dangerous. However, every possible effort has been expended to ensure that Flaming Simon operates safely and poses the minimum possible risk to persons and property. Flames from the piece eject well above the height of players and crowd; trained fire safety crew run the piece; it has been constructed using industrial quality LP gas fittings, valves and hoses; and it has multiple safety shutdown devices.

Flaming Simon has recently been rebuilt to conform with safety guidelines published by the North American Fire Arts Association (http://nafaa.org).

There have been no injuries associated with Flaming Simon since we began running it in 2001.

Photos

These pictures are of the original version of Flaming Simon.

ExploDrums

ExploDrums is a set of percussive flame cannons and an interface that lets users play beats on the cannons. Users press buttons on a panel that allows them to create patterns of flame bursts from the cannons.

The user beats are played back as a sequence of bursts from the cannons, with each cannon producing a different percussive sound. Users can effectively DJ the beats, controlling patterns and tempo from the interface.

ExploDrums is a more portable version of PyroStomp, shown in this video. The cannon setup is the same for ExploDrums, but the step-on interface shown in the video is replaced by the portable interface.

Contact information
Email fire-at-flamingsimon-dot-com (remove the dashes and add the @ and .)